It was only 11 months ago that the Texas Longhorns stood on the Rose Bowl field looking up at the scoreboard. 3:14 left on the clock and a 3-point game. Freshman Garrett Gilbert had come off the bench in the first meaningful action of his career and had shown the type of promise that teams dream of from their top recruits.
Yes, Colt McCoy was leaving and so was Jordan Shipley, but the torch had been passed. The team was going to be ok. And this wasn’t a case of looking through the world with burnt orange-colored glasses. Folks in Austin weren’t the only ones who thought this team could still hang. The Associated Press had Texas ranked 5th in the country to start 2010. The coaches had the Horns 4th.
We were all wrong. This team lacked the heart that others have had. It seemed to lack leadership and it definitely lacked strategy. The vaunted recruiting classes of the last few years failed to unearth its promised superstars. This can’t be laid at the feet of Garrett Gilbert, either. He hasn’t been the success story Texas fans hoped for, but he hasn’t been placed in the best position to succeed, either. Dropped passes, questionable play-calling and a sub-standard offensive line have made his sophomore season difficult.
Put those ingredients together: lack of heart and leadership, poor game-planning and play-calling, underachieving talent. The result is obvious. Losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – Baylor and Texas A&M – these things you could almost explain away if they were close games… they were all ranked teams. But losses to teams like UCLA, Kansas State and Iowa State? These are the things that show you that you have a major problem.
And now I see Longhorn Nation in a panic. I see fans who don’t care about the games anymore. I hear people say things like, “Who cares? We suck anyway.” So soon after standing on the precipice of greatness?
Look, I get it. We’re spoiled. We had one of the greatest runs in the history of college football. 9 straight seasons with at least 10 wins? That’s the type of thing that will make you awfully comfortable with winning and losing will start to feel pretty foreign.
But remember how we got here?
In 1997 this team went 4 and 7. That’s right… worse than this year. And the mess started with a disgusting 66-3 loss to UCLA. That team lost to Baylor and Oklahoma State, too. The ’97 bunch lost 4 in a row before getting a win in the 2nd to last week only to lose to a ranked Texas A&M team to finish the year. Sound familiar?
Do you know how long it took for the Texas Longhorns to recover from that disaster season and get back to relevance? Exactly no time flat. In 1998 the ‘Horns won 9 games and finished ranked 15th in the country and were Cotton Bowl champions.
So what happened? A change in the coaching staff. John Mackovic was out – and in from North Carolina came Mack Brown. Ricky Williams was the best player on that ’98 team. But he was also the best player on the ’97 team. The right mix of coaches and a young Major Applewhite put in the position to succeed and they turned it around in a heartbeat. Two more solid 9-win seasons followed without Ricky and then the 10-win streak that led to three BCS games, two title games and one National Championship.
Changes are coming again. Mack Brown isn’t going anywhere, but that’s ok. The point here, friends, is that Mack Brown knows how to do it. He knows when things aren’t working and when he figures it out and gets the right people in the right situations it can get back to good in a big hurry.
I hear the whining. “He should have fired Greg Davis years ago!” Hard to do when you’re in the national championship discussion every year. I’ve even heard people asking if maybe it’s Mack’s time to go.
As it turns out, it’s Mack’s time to shine. He’s done it before and he can do it again. He'll find great football minds to mold great kids into great football players. This team will find leadership and will scratch and claw their way back to the upper rung of the sport.
Keep the faith, Texas fans. Next year will be here before you know it… and there’s every reason to think that it could surprise a lot of people.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tre' Tabled
By all accounts, Tre Newton had it all. At Southlake Carroll high school in Dallas, Tre was a superstar, leading the Dragons to three state titles and rushing for almost 5,000 yards in an amazing prep career. As a freshman at the University of Texas he led the team in rushing and as he started his sophomore season his role looked to be even bigger. And his lineage practically already had him drafted to the NFL. His father, Nate Newton played for the Dallas Cowboys… his uncle Tim Newton for the Minnesota Vikings. Even his uncle on his mother’s side played in the NFL.
Tre’s Sophomore season began with three touchdowns in the opener against Rice. Little did he know that it would be his last trip to the end zone. You see, Tre had a problem: starting back in high school he had suffered a series of concussions. They continued into college and 13 days ago in Manhattan, Kansas, Tre got hit again – forced to leave the game against Kansas State with another head injury.
By now you can probably tell that this story doesn’t have a happy ending. But it COULD have been a lot worse. Tre is ok. He has some recurring headaches and he’s dealing with other post-concussion symptoms. With only two games left in the season it would be easy to try and fight through it or even sit out the last couple of games and gear up for next year. But Tre has had enough. He looked into his future and saw a hazy and potentially life-threatening path. Tre Newton hung up his cleats at the age of 21 – he quit the team and will no longer play the game he grew up with. "As much as I love football, this is one of the hardest decisions of my life," Newton said. "But football isn't forever."
Tre says the decision was his (although doctors advised him that this was the smart move) and his father, a 6-time Pro-Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl champion, supported Tre’s choice saying, "You have to think about the future because football is going to end someday.”
Teammate Blake Gideon was not as sympathetic. "I always go 100 miles per hour and will worry about all that health stuff 10 years from now when I'm done playing," Gideon went on, "I'm making memories now. We all knew what we were signing up for when we started playing football."
But what good is making memories if the day comes when you can no longer remember them? Or worse.
"I support Tre' but for me personally, I'd die on that field." That’s defensive back Aaron Williams. For some reason, that’s the attitude we expect from our athletes today, and that’s a shame. The truth is, the average NFL career is only 3.3 years. That’s according to the NFL Players Association. And that’s only if you’re one of the fortunate ones who actually gets drafted and makes a roster. You could EASILY take another 500 hits to the head in training camp only to be cut and never get to take the field in the league. Not to mention the dozens of hits he’d take every Saturday the next two years before entering the draft.
Tre made a difficult, but mature decision and he should be applauded. And most of his teammates are very supportive. Mack Brown gets it. The Longhorn coach has promised that Tre can keep his scholarship and work toward his degree in corporate communications. Mack wants Tre to remain close to the football program and even help out coaching the running backs. Tre is all in - "even if it's just running to give somebody water." Maybe he’ll enjoy the coaching side and make a career of it. Maybe Tre will die on that field, too, but at 80 years old and on the sideline, not at 22 between the hashes. There's a difference between quitting and being a quitter and some of his teammates need to learn that.
It’s a rough game and there’s no question that it takes a lot of courage to play football. But sometimes it takes even more courage not to play.
Tre’s Sophomore season began with three touchdowns in the opener against Rice. Little did he know that it would be his last trip to the end zone. You see, Tre had a problem: starting back in high school he had suffered a series of concussions. They continued into college and 13 days ago in Manhattan, Kansas, Tre got hit again – forced to leave the game against Kansas State with another head injury.
By now you can probably tell that this story doesn’t have a happy ending. But it COULD have been a lot worse. Tre is ok. He has some recurring headaches and he’s dealing with other post-concussion symptoms. With only two games left in the season it would be easy to try and fight through it or even sit out the last couple of games and gear up for next year. But Tre has had enough. He looked into his future and saw a hazy and potentially life-threatening path. Tre Newton hung up his cleats at the age of 21 – he quit the team and will no longer play the game he grew up with. "As much as I love football, this is one of the hardest decisions of my life," Newton said. "But football isn't forever."
Tre says the decision was his (although doctors advised him that this was the smart move) and his father, a 6-time Pro-Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl champion, supported Tre’s choice saying, "You have to think about the future because football is going to end someday.”
Teammate Blake Gideon was not as sympathetic. "I always go 100 miles per hour and will worry about all that health stuff 10 years from now when I'm done playing," Gideon went on, "I'm making memories now. We all knew what we were signing up for when we started playing football."
But what good is making memories if the day comes when you can no longer remember them? Or worse.
"I support Tre' but for me personally, I'd die on that field." That’s defensive back Aaron Williams. For some reason, that’s the attitude we expect from our athletes today, and that’s a shame. The truth is, the average NFL career is only 3.3 years. That’s according to the NFL Players Association. And that’s only if you’re one of the fortunate ones who actually gets drafted and makes a roster. You could EASILY take another 500 hits to the head in training camp only to be cut and never get to take the field in the league. Not to mention the dozens of hits he’d take every Saturday the next two years before entering the draft.
Tre made a difficult, but mature decision and he should be applauded. And most of his teammates are very supportive. Mack Brown gets it. The Longhorn coach has promised that Tre can keep his scholarship and work toward his degree in corporate communications. Mack wants Tre to remain close to the football program and even help out coaching the running backs. Tre is all in - "even if it's just running to give somebody water." Maybe he’ll enjoy the coaching side and make a career of it. Maybe Tre will die on that field, too, but at 80 years old and on the sideline, not at 22 between the hashes. There's a difference between quitting and being a quitter and some of his teammates need to learn that.
It’s a rough game and there’s no question that it takes a lot of courage to play football. But sometimes it takes even more courage not to play.
Friday, November 12, 2010
The Fabric of Texas Football
In February of 2005 I was feeling the Longhorn football high. We had taken the “next step.” After three straight 10-2 seasons capped by Holiday and Cotton Bowls, in 2004 it was a BCS berth. The Rose Bowl against Michigan was one of the greatest games I had ever seen. Vince ran for 200 yards and Dusty Mangum hit the game-winning field goal as time expired.
You just KNEW that a big season was coming the next year and so, in February I decided I needed a new piece of game day attire. I found a special on ebay. $29 for a quality Nike Texas jersey – burnt orange with the number 1 on it. I’m certain that this was a store clearing old Chris Simms items, but I didn’t care. I decided that the number 1 on MY jersey would stand for where we’d be at the end of the year – plus I was a fan of receiver Sloan Thomas (an underrated receiver who went to my high school and wore the uno.)
My new jersey arrived a few days later and I decided to use it carefully. This was ONLY to be used for “big games.” I didn’t have to wait long to test it. Week two the Longhorns played the Ohio State Buckeyes. #2 vs. #4 in the Horseshoe. When Limas Sweed made that catch in the back of the end zone, my jersey was off to a great start.
I held true to my plan. I didn’t wear “Uno” for Rice or Missouri… and when it came through at the state fairgrounds with a 45-12 rout of OU, I felt I had caught lightning in a bottle. I kept the jersey on the bench when 24th-ranked Colorado came to town the next week (didn’t want to wear out the mojo) and used it wisely as we rocked #10 Texas Tech. I was out with friends the next week and not watching as Oklahoma State rolled up a 28-9 lead on us. When I got wind, I went home to watch the rest of the game and put on the jersey in a panic. The way I saw it, this had BECOME a “big game.” We scored 38 unanswered points.
The jersey was on my back for an easy win over the Aggies and was complete overkill for a 70-3 Big 12 Championship shellacking of Colorado. It was the only option in my bag as I flew to Pasadena and is in all of my photos for the greatest sports moment of my life. Undefeated season. Undefeated jersey.
The next season I messed up. I had a sideline pass for the big Ohio State home game and couldn’t wear my jersey down there. We lost. But the jersey was still unbeaten. Uno picked up another OU win and didn’t get much play for a while after that. I was in Michigan at a Wolverines game when we almost lost in Nebraska. A last-second field goal bailed me out, but I was just SURE my lack of jersey was going to cost us. On the road at Texas Tech we went down 21-0, but I assured my friends we’d be ok. I was wearing the jersey. 35-31 Texas was the final. I was travelling for work (without Uno) when we lost a bizarre game in Manhattan, Kansas and foolishly wore a novelty t-shirt against A&M as we took another loss. I blame myself for that one. Not the best year for the Horns, but still – Uno couldn’t lose.
In 2007 I wasn’t wearing it for K-State. Just didn’t seem like a “big game.” We lost to those guys AGAIN! And this time at home. Oops. I tried another novelty shirt for OU that did NOT work out. “Mobilehoma” was funny, but the loss was not. I was in Stillwater that year as Oklahoma State led us by 21 points midway through the 3rd quarter. Uno to the rescue. The comeback ability of this jersey is legendary. But then – finally - a chink in the armor when the Aggies beat us AGAIN – and this time while I was wearing the jersey. The Holiday Bowl win was nice, but my confidence in Uno was shaken.
In 2008 things seemed to be working out. I wore the jersey for Arkansas (just to test the waters) but was still gun-shy about OU. What if the juice was gone from the jersey and we lost? I can’t have that on my conscience. Mobilehoma got the job done this time as Texas won 45-35. This began a ridiculous gauntlet of tough games. I went back to my jersey. Uno was on-hand as we beat #11 Missouri and 6th-ranked Oklahoma State. All that was left now was a game at #6 Texas Tech. After some discussion on the Longhorn Nation website - and, yes, actual online voting - , it was decided that I would send the jersey with a friend who would actually BE at the game rather than wear it myself. The plan backfired. Uno suffered its second loss – and a costly one. Disgusted, I kept Uno in the closet until the Rose Bowl. A 24-21 win over Ohio State proved that the magic wasn’t completely gone.
Last year the jersey came out 3 times during the regular season – all victories – and earned itself a trip back to Pasadena. I did everything right. I even wore the same longsleeve t-shirt UNDER Uno that I had worn 4 years before. No dice. Colt got hurt and even Uno couldn’t bring the Horns back from the disastrous last play of the half. Uno had loss number 3 and I had a long flight home to think about how to use the jersey in the future.
After much deliberation this season I left Uno on the shelf for Texas Tech and we won. When we lost to UCLA I figured the jersey wasn’t going to help us much for OU, so I left it in the closet. We lost again. Next came the game in Nebraska. We were cooked - our season already ruined, but because of how much hype this game had gotten all year, because of how much we needed something solid to hang out hats on – and because it just couldn’t POSSIBLY hurt – I pulled Uno out of retirement and we beat a top 5 team on the road. Season saved. Assuming we didn’t need any luck against Iowa State, I put Uno back in the closet. You know how it’s gone from there.
So this Saturday, with another top 10 team coming to town, I’m bringing the jersey to Austin. This will be my final home game of the season and Uno hasn’t been inside the DKR in 14 months. Yes, we’re underdogs. Yes, things have gone badly this year. But if you think we’ve hit rock bottom and you’re considering placing a wager on Oklahoma State this weekend, you’ve been warned. Uno will be in the building. Sure, it’s a longshot, but at 18-3 lifetime, I wouldn’t bet against it.
You just KNEW that a big season was coming the next year and so, in February I decided I needed a new piece of game day attire. I found a special on ebay. $29 for a quality Nike Texas jersey – burnt orange with the number 1 on it. I’m certain that this was a store clearing old Chris Simms items, but I didn’t care. I decided that the number 1 on MY jersey would stand for where we’d be at the end of the year – plus I was a fan of receiver Sloan Thomas (an underrated receiver who went to my high school and wore the uno.)
My new jersey arrived a few days later and I decided to use it carefully. This was ONLY to be used for “big games.” I didn’t have to wait long to test it. Week two the Longhorns played the Ohio State Buckeyes. #2 vs. #4 in the Horseshoe. When Limas Sweed made that catch in the back of the end zone, my jersey was off to a great start.
I held true to my plan. I didn’t wear “Uno” for Rice or Missouri… and when it came through at the state fairgrounds with a 45-12 rout of OU, I felt I had caught lightning in a bottle. I kept the jersey on the bench when 24th-ranked Colorado came to town the next week (didn’t want to wear out the mojo) and used it wisely as we rocked #10 Texas Tech. I was out with friends the next week and not watching as Oklahoma State rolled up a 28-9 lead on us. When I got wind, I went home to watch the rest of the game and put on the jersey in a panic. The way I saw it, this had BECOME a “big game.” We scored 38 unanswered points.
The jersey was on my back for an easy win over the Aggies and was complete overkill for a 70-3 Big 12 Championship shellacking of Colorado. It was the only option in my bag as I flew to Pasadena and is in all of my photos for the greatest sports moment of my life. Undefeated season. Undefeated jersey.
The next season I messed up. I had a sideline pass for the big Ohio State home game and couldn’t wear my jersey down there. We lost. But the jersey was still unbeaten. Uno picked up another OU win and didn’t get much play for a while after that. I was in Michigan at a Wolverines game when we almost lost in Nebraska. A last-second field goal bailed me out, but I was just SURE my lack of jersey was going to cost us. On the road at Texas Tech we went down 21-0, but I assured my friends we’d be ok. I was wearing the jersey. 35-31 Texas was the final. I was travelling for work (without Uno) when we lost a bizarre game in Manhattan, Kansas and foolishly wore a novelty t-shirt against A&M as we took another loss. I blame myself for that one. Not the best year for the Horns, but still – Uno couldn’t lose.
In 2007 I wasn’t wearing it for K-State. Just didn’t seem like a “big game.” We lost to those guys AGAIN! And this time at home. Oops. I tried another novelty shirt for OU that did NOT work out. “Mobilehoma” was funny, but the loss was not. I was in Stillwater that year as Oklahoma State led us by 21 points midway through the 3rd quarter. Uno to the rescue. The comeback ability of this jersey is legendary. But then – finally - a chink in the armor when the Aggies beat us AGAIN – and this time while I was wearing the jersey. The Holiday Bowl win was nice, but my confidence in Uno was shaken.
In 2008 things seemed to be working out. I wore the jersey for Arkansas (just to test the waters) but was still gun-shy about OU. What if the juice was gone from the jersey and we lost? I can’t have that on my conscience. Mobilehoma got the job done this time as Texas won 45-35. This began a ridiculous gauntlet of tough games. I went back to my jersey. Uno was on-hand as we beat #11 Missouri and 6th-ranked Oklahoma State. All that was left now was a game at #6 Texas Tech. After some discussion on the Longhorn Nation website - and, yes, actual online voting - , it was decided that I would send the jersey with a friend who would actually BE at the game rather than wear it myself. The plan backfired. Uno suffered its second loss – and a costly one. Disgusted, I kept Uno in the closet until the Rose Bowl. A 24-21 win over Ohio State proved that the magic wasn’t completely gone.
Last year the jersey came out 3 times during the regular season – all victories – and earned itself a trip back to Pasadena. I did everything right. I even wore the same longsleeve t-shirt UNDER Uno that I had worn 4 years before. No dice. Colt got hurt and even Uno couldn’t bring the Horns back from the disastrous last play of the half. Uno had loss number 3 and I had a long flight home to think about how to use the jersey in the future.
After much deliberation this season I left Uno on the shelf for Texas Tech and we won. When we lost to UCLA I figured the jersey wasn’t going to help us much for OU, so I left it in the closet. We lost again. Next came the game in Nebraska. We were cooked - our season already ruined, but because of how much hype this game had gotten all year, because of how much we needed something solid to hang out hats on – and because it just couldn’t POSSIBLY hurt – I pulled Uno out of retirement and we beat a top 5 team on the road. Season saved. Assuming we didn’t need any luck against Iowa State, I put Uno back in the closet. You know how it’s gone from there.
So this Saturday, with another top 10 team coming to town, I’m bringing the jersey to Austin. This will be my final home game of the season and Uno hasn’t been inside the DKR in 14 months. Yes, we’re underdogs. Yes, things have gone badly this year. But if you think we’ve hit rock bottom and you’re considering placing a wager on Oklahoma State this weekend, you’ve been warned. Uno will be in the building. Sure, it’s a longshot, but at 18-3 lifetime, I wouldn’t bet against it.
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